THE DEATH OF DEATHS

Death is an evil that evokes deep emotions in man. Many fear death so deeplythat they are “all their lifetime subject to bondage” (Heb 2:15). Many, whoappear not to fear their own deaths, are nevertheless deeply moved when itcomes to the death of friends or foes. Abraham wept for Sarah when she died(Gen 23:2); the people of Israel wept and mourned for Moses (Deut 34:8); Davidmourned, wept and fasted when his friend Jonathan and Saul his pursuer died (2Sam 1:12); and the Lord Himself wept when He was being shown to Lazarus’ tomb(Jn 11:35).

The death of Christ holds great significance for Christians, and ought to moveus with deep feeling too, especially when we come to the Lord’s Table. However,this is often not the case. Why is this so? I believe the reason often lies inthe fact that few of us actually take time to mediate on what the Lord wentthrough. Moreover, we know that the Lord rose from the dead, three days afterHe died, so that whenever we think about the death of Christ, we will no doubtrecall His resurrection. This is not wrong, but it does often mitigate thefeeling of grief which we may otherwise experience as we meditate on whatChrist went through for us.

That notwithstanding, I believe it is always needful for us to be constantlyreminded of the death of Christ and to meditate on it. When the Lord teaches usto partake of the Lord’s Supper in remembrance of Him (Lk22:19; 1 Cor 11:24–25), He is not teaching us to remember Him or His teachinggenerally. How could we forget Him if we are under a regular Gospel ministry inwhich preaching the Gospel is (or ought to be) preaching Christ? To rememberChrist at the Lord’s Supper must specifically refer to an affectionatemeditation on the death and sufferings of Christ (see WLC 174)in order to stir up ourselves to love Him the more deeply. For this reason, itis important for us to be reminded concerning the details surrounding the deathof Christ, that our hearts may be bestirred to meditate on what He wentthrough, with the help of the Holy Spirit. The death of Christ is, after all,“the sum of the Gospel, the foundation of Christianity, the root and spring ofall our comforts and hopes, of all our happiness here and hereafter” (DavidClarkson, “Christ’s Dying for Sinners” in Works, 3.64).

A Real Death

The first fact concerning the death of Christ that we must remind ourselves ofis that it was a real death. There were many in the early church, such as theGnostics, who for various reasons would deny that Christ really died. Someargued that Christ could not have died because He only appeared in human form,but was never really human. These were the Docetists, with whom the ApostleJohn had to contend (1 Jn 4:2). Others, such as the old Gnostic hereticBasilides of the 2nd century, insisted that Christ swooped form with Simon ofCyrene who was crucified in His stead. After him, in the 7th century, Mohammed,who founded Islam in AD 622, claimed that it was either Pilate or JudasIscariot who was crucified! Modern liberals also refuse to believe in theresurrection of Christ, and so proposed many theories, such as the swoontheory, which claims that Christ only fainted and was revived in the cool ofthe tomb.

But these were all based on fables and over-fertile imaginations, not onlyhaving no foundations in the Scriptures but also blatantly contradicting theScriptures. The death of Christ was prophesied in the Old Testament. If Christdid not really die, then the Old Testament was in error and the Lord was lyingto His disciples (cf. Ps 16:8–11, Acts 2:27–28; Lk 24:25–27). The plainlanguage of the Gospel accounts indicates that Christ did really die. If Christmerely swooned, the embalming process, which involved a hundred pounds ofspices (Jn 19:39), would no doubt have killed Him. There is no way that anytheory that Christ did not really die could be reconciled with sacred history,or with analogy of Scripture from which all Christian theology is derived.

Christ did really die. Death is the separation of soul from body. At the Lord’sdeath, He commended His spirit unto the Father and “gave up the ghost” (i.e.,“breath his last”—Grk. ekpneô). He then entered into paradise, andno doubt met the penitent thief as He had promised (Lk 23:43).

A Violent Death

The death of Christ was, moreover, a violent and unnatural death in that He was“cut off” (Dan 9:26) in His prime. It is not without reason that Mosesinstructs us that “the days of our years are threescore years and ten” (Ps90:10), for the Son of Man would be cut off just before He reached the mid-waymark, so as to indicate that death was the purpose of His living.

Had the Lord died an ordinary death, the purpose of His death would not be soclearly manifested. But it was not to be so. Although Christ suffered willingly(Isa 53:7; Jn 10:18; Heb 10:6–7), He was murderously led from prison and fromjudgement (Isa 53:8). He suffered such bodily affliction without divineintervention, that death became inevitable according to the course of nature.This is what Isaiah means when he says: “he hath poured out his soul untodeath” (Isa 53:12). “The violence, which he suffered, destroyed the vitaldisposition in the body, which is needful to continue it in union with thesoul, and hereupon life did not so much expired, as it was expelled”(Clarkson, ibid.). That is, life had to be expelled from theviolently wrecked body, since Christ had chosen not to sustain it by divinepower (cf. Mt 26:53).

A Voluntary Death

Although the death of Christ was a violent death, it was not that He had nochoice or had to grudgingly submit to being killed. The Lord Jesus Christ isfully God and fully man, and He was perfectly able to prevent death to Himselfas He did when His time was not up yet (Lk 4:29–30; Jn 8:59). Thus, He told Hisdisciples:

Therefore doth my Father love me,because I lay down my life, that I might take it again. No man taketh it fromme, but I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have powerto take it again. This commandment have I received of my Father (Jn 10:17–18).

This agrees well with the fact that the Lord came in the first place to be apropitiation for the sin of His people. He says, according to the GreekPsalter:

Sacrifice and offering thou wouldestnot, but a body hast thou prepared me: In burnt offerings and sacrifices forsin thou hast had no pleasure. Then said I, Lo, I come (in the volume of thebook it is written of me,) to do thy will, O God (Heb 10:5–7, cf. Ps 40:6–8).

This fact is important for us to remember, for it reminds us that our salvationis from beginning to end the work of God’s initiative. And though those whocrucified the Lord were used of God for His higher purpose, we must neverascribe an iota of gratitude to those who crucified our Lord. Indeed, the Lordsays concerning Judas: “The Son of man goeth as it is written of him: but woeunto that man by whom the Son of man is betrayed! it had been good for that manif he had not been born” (Mt 26:24).

An Undeserved Death

Seven hundred years before Christ was born, His death was already prophesied byIsaiah: “He made his grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death;because he had done no violence, neither was any deceit in his mouth” (Isa53:9). He would die a criminal’s death, but not because He deserved it at all.He was at all points tempted like as we are, and yet without sin (Heb 4:15).

During His trial, the Lord was examined independently by Herod and Pilate. Bothfound no fault in Him. Pilate pronounced three times: “I find in him not faultat all” (Jn 18:38; cf. 19:4, 6; Lk 23:15). He was even ready to release Him. Hewas pressured by the Jews who cried unto him: “If thou let this man go, thouart not Caesar’s friend: whosoever maketh himself a king speaketh againstCaesar” (Jn 19:12). Fearing for his political future, Pilate conceded. But hewas so convinced of the innocence of Christ, that he tried to appease hisconscience by washing his hands in a bowl of water before the multitude, andsaying: “I am innocent of the blood of this just person: see ye to it” (Mt27:24).

If Christ deserved not to die, why did He die? He died for His bride, whom Heloved dearly. Were He not bearing our sin as our substitute, He needed not todie, for He had no sin. But He took our sin upon Himself, endured the wrath ofGod and paid the penalty due to us fully. “Sin could not die, unless Christdied; Christ could not die, without being made sin; nor could He die, but sinmust die with Him” (Elisha Coles).

A Cruel Death

The Lord Jesus Christ died through the torture of one of the most cruel formsof punishment ever invented by man. It has been said that a person who wascrucified “died a thousand deaths.”

The Dictionary of Jesus and the Gospels (IVP) puts it thisway:

Among the torturous penalties notedin the literature of antiquity, crucifixion was particularly heinous. The actitself damaged no vital organs, nor did it result in excessive bleeding. Hence,death came slowly, sometimes after several days, through shock or a painfulprocess of asphyxiation as the muscles used in breathing suffered increasingfatigue. Often, as a further disgrace, the person was denied burial and thebody was left on the cross to serve as carrion for the birds or to rot.

As part of the preparation for crucifixion, our Lord was tied and pushed aboutlike a criminal. He was abused verbally and physically. He was spat at. He wasslapped. He was stripped naked. He was flogged with the cruel cat of ninetails, which had pieces of metal, or bones, tied to the end of the tongs. Hisback must have been riven and bloodied. He had a crown of thorns forced downHis head. He was made to carry His own cross. And when they had reachedGolgotha, He was brutally nailed to the cross, through the hands and feet (cf.Ps 22:14–17).

There on the cruel cross, our Lord hung. He experienced to the maximum all thesenses of the pains of death. He even refused the wine mixed with myrrh, whichwas intended, according to some, as a kind of anaesthetic. He did so, that Hemight perfectly taste suffering and death for His brethren (Heb 2:9).

A Shameful Death

The death of the cross was not only cruel, but regarded as most shameful meansof death among the Romans. It was reserved only for slaves and for the vilestcriminals, and for such as were considered pests in the earth. Cicero, theRoman statesman who lived a generation before Christ was born, once wrote: “Letthe very name of the cross be far removed not only from the body of a Romancitizen, but even from his thoughts, his eyes, his ears” (cited by WilliamHendriksen in Comm. on Philippians 2:8).

It is said that when the Romans wanted to kill a creature they wanted to showrabid detestation for, they would crucify it. And so dog owners were said tohave crucified their dogs which failed to protect them.

Christ our Lord, the Lord of glory, willingly underwent such a cruel andshameful death on our behalf. He not only endured the cross, but despised theshame thereof (Heb 12:2).

A Cursed Death

The death on the cross was not only cruel and shameful, it was a cursed death.The Apostle Paul proclaimed: “Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of thelaw, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one thathangeth on a tree” (Gal 3:13). He was referring to Deuteronomy 21:23 whereMoses, under divine inspiration, instructs concerning the disposal of executedcriminals, who were hung on a tree:

His body shall not remain all nightupon the tree, but thou shalt in any wise bury him that day; (for he that ishanged is accursed of God;) that thy land be not defiled, which the LORD thyGod giveth thee for an inheritance (Deut 21:23).

Without the benefit of Paul’s commentary, the parenthetical explanation: “forhe that is hanged is accursed of God,” makes little sense. Why should theaction of the people in hanging the criminal render him accursed of God? Theanswer is found in the fact that Christ, the end of all Scriptures, would behung on the tree as a curse for us to redeem us from the curse of the Law.

The curse of the Law (for breaking the Law) is death and separation from God.Christ so fully endured the curse of the Law, that He is said to be a curse forus. He did so not only to demonstrate the depth to which the thrice-holy Godabhors sin, but to show His infinite love for us.

A Necessary Death

If Christ had not died and risen, then our faith is vain and we are yet in oursins (1 Cor 15:17). It was necessary for Christ to die, not because He had nochoice. If He had sinned, He would have no choice, for the Law of justice woulddemand that He pays for His sins. But He sinned not at all. It was necessaryfor Christ to die because it was the only way by which He could ransom a peopleunto Himself, by which divine justice would be perfectly satisfied and sinnersforgiven. Thus He taught His disciples that “it behoved Christ to suffer, andto rise from the dead” (Lk 24:46); and the Apostle Paul repeats the samedoctrine, saying that “Christ must needs have suffered, and risen again fromthe dead” (Acts 17:3).

John Owen, insisting that Christ died only for the elect and that His death isefficacious for them, points out that:

The Father and His Son intended bythe death of Christ to redeem, purge, sanctify, purify, deliver from death,Satan, the curse of the law, to quit of all sin, to make righteousness in Christ,to bring nigh unto God, all those for whom He died… (Death of death in theDeath of Christ [BOT, 1967], 99).

It is possible to show that all these intentions of Christ’s death can only beaccomplished by the death of Christ, the God-Man, alone without a travesty ofthe revealed will of God. The death of Christ is necessary for the existence ofthe Church. If Christ had not died, there were no Church, no Christian, and noChristianity.

An ExtraordinarilyPainful Death

“The wages of sin is death” (Rom 6:23). This refers not only to the first orphysical death, but also to the second, or eternal and spiritual, death. TheLord Jesus Christ tasted both deaths on behalf of His Church. In tastingphysical death, Christ destroyed the sting of death, made death no more apunishment for believers, and procured for believers the right to be raisedfrom the dead (1 Cor 15:55–57). Christ also tasted the second death on behalfof the elect. This was the reason for the terrible apprehensions that Christfelt as He prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane, andperspired great drops of sweat like unto blood. This was the reason for Hisexclaiming “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me!” Also as the God-Man,Christ needs only suffer the pains associated with the second death momentarilyto have paid sufficiently the eternal death due to the members of His Church.Clarkson explains beautifully:

The worm of conscience indeed didnot touch Him: for that’s the effect, not of imputed sin, but of personalguilt, wherewith He was not in the least tainted. Eternal sufferings are in thesentence of the Law, not absolutely, but with respect to a finite creature, whocould not suffer all that was due in less than eternity. But Christ being God,His temporary sufferings were equivalent to eternal: He could pay down thewhole sum at once. What it wanted in duration was made up in the value: Hissuffering for a time was of more weight and worth than the eternal sufferingsof sinners; and it was far more for the Son of God to suffer for a while, thanfor all creatures to suffer everlastingly.

But as to the substance, He endured the pains of the second death, so far aswas consistent with the perfection of His nature. The sufferings of that deathare punishments of loss and of sense. Punishment of loss is separation fromGod, of this He complains (Mt 27:46; Ps 22). The Personal union was notdissolved, but the sense and effects of divine love and favour was withheld.His Father appeared as a severe and incensed Judge, and dealt with Him, not asHis Son, but as an undertaker for sinners (op. cit., 65).

Through the history of the Church many martyrs appeared to have sufferedgreater physical pain than the Lord Himself, as men under the inspiration ofSatan continued to invent more and more evil means of torture. Some were burnedalive in slow fire, some were torn apart by wild animals, some had theirtongues or their finger nails yanked out, etc. But we must have no doubt thatno one suffered as greatly as did the Lord, because no one ever experiencedphysical torment as the God-Man, nor endured in his soul, the infinite wrath ofGod against the sin of an innumerable multitude of saints throughout the ages.

The death of Christ is truly extraordinarily painful. Yet He endured all these,“Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which wascontrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross” (Col2:14). The Lord of glory endured alone, all the punishment which is due to eachone of us for our rebellion against Him who is the transcendently holy God.

Conclusion

The death of Christ is the death of deaths in two senses of the phrase. It isthe death of deaths, in the first place, because no other deaths can becompared to it. It is extraordinary in its subject, its torment, its purposeand its accomplishment. It is the death of deaths, in the second place, becauseby His death, He put to death the power of death and secures life for HisChurch. It is because Christ died for us and was raised again that we may be alivespiritually today and alive spiritually and physically in all eternity.

May our meditation on the death of Christ fill our hearts with love andgratitude for our Lord, with grief for our sins, and with longing for the daywhen we shall meet our blessed Redeemer face to face.

—J.J. Lim